A glowing meal

We’re on our second day of gloomy doomy rain over here- I kind of love it.

Since I didn’t want the weather to get in the way of Bella’s walking schedule, I took her to walk indoors to PetSmart. She starts squeaking like a little bird as soon as we pull into the parking lot. New treats and a snowman toy:

I especially love the rain because sometimes the Pilot’s flights are canceled due to weather, so he gets to come home earlier. Whenever it randomly starts raining and he has a canceled flight, he blames me for doing it. Last night, despite the weather and my wishes, he still got home pretty late and we enjoyed a 10pm dinner together.

It was also my first time trying this quinoa pasta, which has slightly higher protein content than the brown rice pasta (6g instead of 4)

Roasted 1/2 the bnut:

Made the sauce:

(first time making a vegan cheeze sauce sans cashews and I couldn’t believe how fantastic it came out. I added a little more garlic and salt, plus some chili powder and paprika)

Added the sauce to the cooked pasta, along with some wilted greens (kale, chard, spinach)

(don’t you just want to dive in?)

and served it up.

The recipe makes 4 servings, and the Pilot and I each couldn’t finish ours. (I had about 1.5 servings and he had around 2.5, covered in shredded cheese) It was extremely delicious –I loved the flavor from the squash!- and filling. I think it’s from all of the fiber (squash, pasta, veg) and protein- nutritional yeast isn’t messing around 😉

It was the Pilot’s first Oh She Glows meal and was a fan. His big thing with vegan food is that he doesn’t want it to pretend to be something else, he wants to know exactly what’s it in so he isn’t expecting the “real” thing and then end up disappointed. For example, I always tell him we’re having crispy tempeh instead of tempeh bacon… otherwise he’ll look at me and say “this is NOT bacon.” So when I told him we were having pasta with a butternut squash and nutritional yeast sauce, he was cool with it, instead of telling him we were having mac n’ cheese and him expecting the gooey mac n’ cheese that I’ll usually make for him.

Have you tried any new recipes lately?

I’m off to the gym and then running some errands before work. Hopefully my day involves some peppermint bark, too…..

I am so excited to try this – it looks fabulous. I’m with the Pilot on vegan food pretending to be what it’s not. A vegan bacon cheeseburger? Come on. But it’s an amazing bonus when those meals do turn out to be amazing, and this looks so promising.

I’m with the Pilot – bacon is a pork product! Cheese is a dairy product! Butternut squash is delicious in its own right, but for the love of all that’s good and holy nothing can be done to it to make it cheese.

I think vegan “versions” of common foods are an acquired taste just like anything else. If your palate is expecting bacon and it gets crispy tempeh, no amount of seasoning and no kitchen magic are going to satisfy it. I’m actually a little insulted if someone feeds me a sneaky veggie burger under the assumption that I wouldn’t notice the difference, and the secondary assumption that I would like it less if I knew it was black beans, etc.

I hate cutting up squash, it’s so hard! Is that skin I see on your squash cubes? Because that would make things a little easier! I must be seeing things. Costco sells cubed b’nut but I always wonder how long it’s been sitting there.

I tried brown rice pasta once and it was a glop. I had to throw it out. I didn’t know it needs undercooked. I like the Barilla Plus that’s got extra protein but I’m sure it’s not gluten free.

I have been craving Mac and Cheese all day!! Can NOT WAITTT to try this recipe! It looks amazing!! I made Black Bean and Sweet Potato Chili yesterday and threw in some broccoli too…Soo good. Then I put the extras in a taco and ate that on top of a big huge Salad Beast!! It was a Fitnessista-kinda day! (:

I’m in the middle of making Crackin’ Cauliflower from Peas and Thank You. I’m about five minutes away from having it along with some brown rice. My condo smells amazing so I’m hoping my tastebuds will be happy too.

Boy does that look good!! I have been craving anything with cheese!! I an on a Renal diet, and preparing to start dialysis! They took away all my major food groups! Cheese, chocolate, nut butters, tomatoes and sauce and ketchup, and potatoes! And forget whole grains! Your bleached out white bread is easier on the kidneys! Even my list of cereals to eat starts with Captain crunch! I have to watch the fruits and veggies, potassium is a nono! I feel like I am eating mostly junk just for the calories! But I am trying to do a salad with egg every day too!

Hi, gorgeous! I'm so glad you're here. Welcome to The Fitnessista, a healthy lifestyle blog emphasizing quick workouts, quick recipes and adventures as a wife and mom. Though I am a certified personal trainer, group fitness instructor and weight loss specialist, the information posted here is not intended to substitute the advice of a medical professional. Please check out the about page for more info. Thank you for reading! ❤️